“El Hilo Conductor”, stories connected through color and texture

Rolando Chang Barrero, who recently received the Outstanding Cultural Leadership Award from the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, will present “Threaded / El Hilo Conductor” at The Box Gallery in partnership with Adriana Torres, Director of the Cultural Institute of Mexico and Consul General of Mexico in Miami. This will be the second Latin American cultural exchange exhibition presented at the independent socially and culturally conscience gallery—”Reflejos” in late 2017.

“Threaded / El Hilo Conductor” is an art exhibition that will present six stories intertwined through fibers. The show starts on May 15 at 7 pm, presenting six narratives that are connected through color and texture.

This show features works by Latin American textile artists living in Miami: Mónica Avayou, Sharon Berebichez, Aurora Molina, Evelyn Politzer, Yolanda Sánchez, and Laura Villarreal. Each artist brings with her own style using embroidery, weaving, sewing, and natural dye to elevate craftsmanship to the level of fine arts. Thread is the material they use to build their own identity and reevaluate the role of women in contemporary society.

Sharon Berebichez was born in México City but lives and works in Miami. She is noted for her highly inventive techniques and use of materials. Growing up in Mexico, she was surrounded by the most vibrant histories and traditions, with a devotion to the brilliant colors, fibers, and textures that define her culture. Using materials such as acrylic and oil paint, fabric, paper, and resin, she creates works that are realistic, colorful, and alive. Playing with the fact that she paints something in order to destroy it, she breaks her painting into little pieces so she can put it back together making a more complete and profound image. Sharon is a passionate artist that likes to approach the subjects of the critical moments we are going through as a society and with all the environmental challenges we are facing.

Sharon uses her art as a method of deconstruction of the female meaning in society. “The assumptions are implicit in the fact that we are born women,” says Berebichez. “I believe that as women, we are fighting to find our place, the way we see ourselves, and the way we are portrayed to the rest of the world. However, we no longer stay quiet or in the background. We can still be heard without losing our femininity, beauty, and maternal instincts in a way that we are fragile and strong at the same time.”

For Mónica Avayou, the process of creation is the fulfillment of an instinctive need to express herself, through a sensual perception of the world that is embodied in her unique fibers. Born and raised in México City, Monica founded Alacrán Producciones brand more than 10 years ago. Since then, she has gone on to work in various other creative endeavors including event planning and scene design in shopping centers. Currently, she is mixing two of her greatest passions; a combination of art and fashion, resulting in her emblematic fiber and patchwork pieces and her necklaces made from jute, yarn, and plastic waste.

Yolanda Sánchez is a visual artist, curator, and writer with an MFA in painting from Yale University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Florida State University. Most recently, she served as the Director of Miami International Airport’s Fine Arts & Cultural Affairs, a post she held for 21 years. Yolanda is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Art & Art History Department at Florida International University and is represented in New York by Kathryn Markel Fine Arts.

Yolanda’s textile work is inspired by a Korean art form, known as Bojagi. Humble in its origins, made by nameless women, traditional pieces, used to wrap, store and transport goods, were made of scraps of common, left-over fibers. Over time, finer and delicate fibers were introduced by the nobility. In its classical form, the stitching and seams create linear elements that are employed and are viewed as elements of the design and are what distinguishes Bojagi from patchwork textiles found in other traditions.

In her Bojagi-inspired textile work, Yolanda is extending and interpreting the basic structure of Bojagi to a form that is more contemporary, varying in medium and size, and utilizing color compositions and stitching techniques that are less anchored to time-honored methods.

Evelyn Politzer, originally from Uruguay, now lives and works in Miami. Evelyn is a 2020 recipient of the Ellies Creator Award from Oolite Arts Organization and a 2021 MFA in Visual Arts candidate from Miami International University of Art and Design.

Every morning, she wakes up with a drive to create with her hands; knit the impossible, and gives voice to the voiceless. She looks to convey nature’s plea for interconnectedness through yarn, thread, and fabric. Using traditional methods like knitting, crochet, and embroidery, Politzer creates unconventional objects, from small 2D tapestries to monumental sculptural forms. She mainly works with hand-dyed, soft natural fibers because of their unique tactile quality that allows her to enjoy the passing of time through her sense of touch. Womanhood and the fragility of the natural environment are recurring themes of her work.

Aurora Molina emigrated to the United States from Cuba at the age of sixteen and pursued an education in art. She received her Associate of Arts in Visual Arts from Miami-Dade College, a bachelor’s in fine arts specializing in Mixed Media from Florida International University, and a master’s degree in Contemporary Art at the Universidad Europea de Madrid completed in 2009. Molina currently resides in Miami, where she works as a full-time artist.

As an artist she thinks is extremely important that we become the commentators of our time, the narrators of front news, and be vigilant to our time, whether it is climate change or fake news.

Molina has become very engaged in the narratives of political satire and how she can illustrate this through the thread, making a reference to a women’s old tradition. She thinks is important and relevant given that fiber art is playing a new role in art history to use thread not as an embellishment but as a statement, a political consequence of woman no longer sitting in circles embroidering flowers.

An installation and performance by Danié Gomez-Ortigoza will complement the exhibition. She is a Mexican-American poet and multimedia artist who believes in the power of intentionally waiving and tracing the invisible thread that unites us.

“Threaded / El Hilo Conductor” is curated by Rina Gitlin and first exhibited at the Cultural Institute of Mexico. A freelance curator, art historian, and exhibition designer, Gitlin has a Master of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies from Harvard University Extension School.

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Threaded (El Hilo Conductor), stories connected through color and texture